A New Technological and Stylistic Examination of the "Christo deposto" by Paolo Veronese

The article presents one of the earliest paintings by Paolo Veronese the Christo deposto nel sepolcro, now in private collection in France. After stylistic and technological analysis, author rejects attributing the picture to Battista Zelotti (that has been suggested by Ridolfi and Boschini), and concludes that the Cristo deposto picture belongs to the first masterworks of Veronese, executed about 1550 before his final removal to Venice.

W. R. REARICK - Titian's Later Mythologies (pp. 23—67)

Titian painted a celebrated cycle of six mythological subjects, works he himself called poesie, for Philip II of Spain between 1553 and 1562; today four of this set survive, including the newly rediscovered first version of the Venus and Adonis (Lausanne, private collection). What is less well known is that between 1561 and 1568 Titian painted a second set of poesie that was offered to, but not bought by, the Emperor Maximilian II in 1568. Today, we can identify four of these later pictures, two of them usually thought to belong to the first set. In them, the workshop participation is more evident, but some passages belong with the most powerful evocations of Titian's late style. This revised evaluation of Titian's later poesie we can now add a ceiling painting, the Rape of Ganeymede (Kreuzlingen, Heinz Kisters collection) that has not previously been discussed in the literature on Titian.

JAMES BECK - The Portrait of Julius II in London's National Gallery. The Goose that Turned Into a Gander (pp. 69—95)

The author rejects the attribution of the discussed painting to Raphael, which has been admitted almost unanimously since 1970. The previous idea was based on two mistakes: an inaccurate interpretation of the results of conservation carried then and the groundless identification of the London painting with the one exhibited in the sixteenth century in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The detailed examination of the stylistic features of the both famous portraits of Julius II - in London and the Uffizi Gallery - leads the author to the primacy of the latter one, which is probably the original of Raphael, painted possibly after the cartoon preserved in the Collezine Corsini in Florence, but not after the one from Chatsworth as supposed before. The London painting was a workshop copy painted probably ca 1516 by Giovanni Francesco Penni.

The article was written in a response to the study by Lilian Zirpolo "Botticellis 'Primavera'. A Lesson for the Bride", Woman's Art Journal 12 (1991/92), pp. 24-28.

Although the author acknowledges the importance of Zirpolo's study, he argues issues of the Feminist approach towards the work by Botticelli. He points out that the interpretation of Primavera as an instructive painting for the bride should be confronted with the historical data about the function of the painting. Furthermore the Botticelli's work is far more complex and comprises the wider scope of meanings than just a memento about woman subordination in a marriage. Finally, Zirpolo's interpretation of the unknown picture in the Room as an archetype of Christian Mother and as a complementary lesson for the bride, should be revised. Madonna paintings were commonly present in Florentine rooms and their recipients were not exclusively women.

The City of God as Veduta. Jan van Eyck's Madonna of the Chancellor Rolin

This essay makes the first ever attempt at linking the form and content of Jan van Eyck's Madonna of the Chancellor Rolin (Paris, Musée du Louvre) to a fundamental and uniform iconographical concept. The landscape and scenic bipartition of the painting clearly evidences St. Augustine's "De civitate Dei" as being its central theological reference. The essay examines its influence on all pictorial and compositional elements of the painting. A particularly fruitful aspect in this respect is the important role which St. Augustine's writings played at the court of the Duke of Burgundy in the 15th century. The author identifies St. Augustine's historical theology, and above all his doctrine of grace, as determining aspects of the Louvre painting.

MARCIN FABIAŃSKI - Correggio's Venus, Cupid and a 'Satyr'. Its Form and Iconography (pp. 159—173)

Both adults in the present scene derive indirectly from Michelangelo's Original Sin, probably through the medium of Raimondi's print (Venus) and Caraglio's engraving of 1527 ('satyr'). Correggio thoroughly reworked all his models and endowed them with an intensive erotic expression. No wonder that his masterpiece aroused interest among artists for over two centuries. It is iconography derives from the Hypnerotomachia Polyphili, as interpreted in the light of ancient writers, probably by Mario Equicola, Federico Gonzaga's secretary.

Combining technical and historical research, a paper conservator and an art historian study a recently discovered work by Paul Gauguin. The small painting of a Breton Girl by the Sea, signed and dated 1889, has altered significantly in colour and tonal relations over time. Fugitive colour has faded and the paper support has darkened. Scientific techniques are used to recover a more precise idea of its original appearance. Technical study shows that the painting was carefully developed from underdrawing to painted surface in a procedure very similar to Gauguin's painting practice. Media, palette and execution can be related to other primitivizing works of 1889 and their pre-Raphaelite and non-Western "Oriental" sources.

HIDEMICHI TANAKA - The Discovery of a Great Sculptor: Kimimaro of the Nara Period (710-793) (pp. 187—220)

The Nara era (710-794) with its sculptures may be considered as one of the best flourishing period, not only in Japanese art history, but also that of the world art. Among these art works we can single out for example the statue of Fuku-Kenjaku Kannon [Fig. 1] and those of the Nikko and Gakko Bosatsu [Figs. 2, 30] in Sangatu-do in Todai-ji temple, executed in dry lacquer or in day, which combine sublimity and the human aspects in one art work. Shitsukongo-shin [Fig. 18], which is stylistically close to the four statues of the warrior, Shitenno [Fig. 16], in Kaidan-in at the same temple, expresses a profound feeling of anger. Also in Shin-Yakusi-ji there are twelve statues of 12 Shinsb and their attitudes are uniquely expressive. Similarly Ganjin, the famous portrait of a blind bonze [Fig. 35] in meditation at Toshodai-ji temple, seems to us to be touched with the deepest humanity, while Gyosin-sozu, portrait of a bonze, at Horyu-ji tempie [Fig. 36] gives us an impression of firm will in a realistic figure. Each statue is considered a masterpiece for its universal artistic, not simply its religious, value, and we can compare this with sculptors from classical Greece or the Italian Renaissance period.

Despite such artistic values, the historians of Japanese art have not paid much attention to the particular artists, because, according to them, we don't have primary sources, which would identify the sculptors. However, we already know from many other documents, which mention the names of sculptors who worked for the large temples. For Todai-ji temple, Kuninaka-nomuraji Kimimaro is well known as the head of the studio (Zo Todai-ji-shi). We must try to attribute the artists' names to the concrete works. However historians do not offer satisfactory analyses of the styles of each artist, but they insist on co-production in the studio under one's direction. They do not consider that the sculptures were as personally executed in that period. From their point of view we can not appreciate a personal style in any single piece. Naturally we accept the collaboration of the studio, but in the case of the creation of the main work, it is extremely likely that somebody personally created a figure in a particular and very personal style.

In this article we try to propose attributions to Kimimaro, based on studies of style of the various sculptures considered here.